


Heir to the Demon

by anthologia



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Forced Pregnancy, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Panic Attacks, Rape/Non-con Elements, Shock, self-injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-23 00:21:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3748486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthologia/pseuds/anthologia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Detective.” He placed his palm against her cheek, and she imagined it burned like acid. “Our child will be a child of legends. It will not be denied.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so somewhere between That One Time Tim Was Almost Raped (which was... not handled all that well why the hell were you cracking jokes, narration) and my tendency to 63 ALL THE CHARACTERS, this happened. 
> 
> I've tagged it for rape/noncon because there's very personal violation and steamrolling over Tim's bodily autonomy in such a way that it's basically not rape only on the technicality that Ra's used a medical procedure instead of sex. And it basically only turns into a nightmare from then on, so yes. Please heed the warnings and tags.

It’s easier to try to accept it in fragments. Tim takes a few deep breaths and plants her hands firmly on the bathroom counter while she stares at herself in the mirror. “You’re pregnant,” she tells herself.

That’s easy enough to grasp. Being pregnant happens to people all the time. It’s a state of being. She doesn’t have to think of it as anything else yet. It’s just a health issue, like having a bruise or a broken bone. It will be here, and then it will be gone. Tim laces her fingers over her stomach and just breathes until she thinks she could be okay with that idea. It just exists, it doesn’t have to _mean_ anything yet.

“The father is Ra’s Al Ghul.” The words come out in a hoarse whisper, her voice sounding wrecked, and just –

 _No_. Too much, too much, she can’t – it’s too much to try to grasp at once, and she spins around so she doesn’t have to look at herself in the mirror. _Erase it_. Take a step back. Think about… think about something else. She doesn’t have to deal with that part yet.

Someone knocks on the door. Dick. He’s worried. She hasn’t told him – hasn’t told anyone, yet. Doesn’t know _how_ to. They can tell something’s wrong, even Damian, but every time she thinks she might be able to open her mouth, she just gets so _lost_ in the enormity of what happened. Where does she start? _How_ can she start?

“Tim?” Dick says softly. “You’ve been in there for a while. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tim says. Pretends it’s true. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

She stares at the wall for a while after she hears Dick’s footsteps walking away.

 

 

It only took a few days. The procedure. Ra’s told her that. She was unconscious at the time, but he showed her the video tapes, every second of time she was captured accounted for. He used artificial insemination – anything else would be too risky, carried a higher chance of not implanting. They shouldn’t be able to know at this point if it even worked, but he used… something. Sped up the process.

She stared at him blankly. She didn’t understand at the time. Still doesn’t. “Why?”

“Detective.” He placed his palm against her cheek, and she imagined it burned like acid. “Our child will be a child of legends. It will not be denied.”

Tim escaped the next day. When she went looking through her supplies, she found a beautifully-written letter from him saying that, of course, she would want to be with her family during the pregnancy. He understood that, although if he heard she was not taking proper care of herself – especially considering her already-weakened immune system – he would be forced to collect her to ensure her health and that of their child’s.

She schedules a procedure the day after she gets back to Gotham. She’s still a minor, but the state they live in isn’t one that requires parental involvement to have an abortion. She asks them to make it happen as fast as they can. The Wayne name is risky to use, but an “anonymous” donation helps her convince them to set up the appointment as quickly as possible. The morning of, she barely eats and makes sure to arrive at the clinic over an hour early.

The _staff_ is. _God_. She thought there was a mistake at first, that this building had been abandoned. Then she starts seeing _them_ , the clinic staff on the floor, knocked out, maybe poisoned. She makes her way stiffly from one to another, checking pulses. Most of their hearts are still beating. But the doctor scheduled for her operation is just… dead, bleeding out in his office. No poison for him. With shaking hands, she picks up the bottle of pre-natal vitamins that has her name neatly inked on it.

Her fingers are clumsy and uncooperative while she looks for Dick’s number on her cell. He picks up immediately, thank god. “Hey, Tim. What’s up?”

She can’t _speak_. The words are choking her and she can’t breathe, she might be having a panic attack. The bottle of vitamins hits the floor and pops open, spilling pills over the floor. Her knees hit the floor a few seconds after. This can’t be real, it has to be a nightmare. It’s a nightmare, and she wants so bad to wake up now, just wake up, please, wake up wake up wake up –

“ – breathe, Timmy, okay? O’s sending me your address right now, I’ll be there as soon as I can. It’ll just be – “

If she had more presence of mind, she could have pinpointed the moment he realized where she was. Thank _god_ he doesn’t try to ask her any questions for now, just sucks in a breath and says, quickly, “I’ll be there in fifteen. I’m going to have to go as N to skip the traffic, so I can’t stay on the line, but when I hang up, O’s going to call you to talk to you, okay?” A pause. “I love you, little sister. So much. Whatever’s happening right now isn’t going to change anything. Okay? I’ll be there soon.”

She curls up on the floor, draws her knees in. Her phone starts ringing practically the second after Dick hangs up, but she can’t bring herself to answer, even when Babs starts calling the phones that are just nearby. She’s losing time, it barely feels like a minute’s passed before Dick’s bursting into the room.

“ – call 911,” he’s saying, “some of these people still look like they’re – _oh_ god _. God._ Tim?”

There are hands taking hold of her, gently unfolding her so he can look her over for injuries. There aren’t any. Visible. “Tim. _Tim_ , god, what happened? Can you – “ There’s no amusement in the laughter that breaks up his words. “Can you even understand me? Just – please, _please_ , say something. Anything.”

She’s shaking. She’s been shaking. He must have changed into street clothes before entering the clinic, because he has a jacket that he’s wrapping her up in before he picks her up. “Okay. _God_. Okay. There’s ambulances on the way, police. We can’t be here when they get here, so I’m going to take you to Dr. Thompkins. Okay?”

“I can’t.” Her voice cracks when she tries to talk. The words are completely divorced from anything he’s been trying to ask her, but he still pauses to give her his undivided and near-frantic attention. “I can’t – he won’t let me. If I _try_. He’ll just keep murdering people until I get the message.”

“Who will? Tim, _please_.”

She just shakes her head and buries her face in his jacket, because she can’t say anything, think anything, she can’t, she c _an’t_.

 

 

Tim doesn’t talk for hours. To anyone, even Dr. Thompkins. After Leslie runs probably every test she can think of on Tim, she finally lets Dick approach her. She’s nowhere near ready to talk, but she lets him wrap his arms around her and waits passively until Bruce finally rushes in. He’s dragging Damian behind him, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Tt. She looks fine to _me_.”

Bruce ignores his youngest in favor of resting a hand on Tim’s head. “What happened?”

Dick explains what they know over her head while she stares at Damian. Is he a little like what the baby would look like? How much of him is al Ghul, and how much is Wayne? If Talia hadn’t been the one to raise him, what would he have been like? Would it have mattered? If this… thing… in her body survives to maturity, would she be able to teach it better? Would she even have a _chance_?

She suddenly starts giggling, sick laughter that bubbles up from somewhere deep and unsettles her stomach. Dick’s hold on her tightens. “Tim? Tim, what’s going on?”

“I just – “ She gasps for air, tries to suck it in. It’s like suddenly she doesn’t have enough lungs to hold it all. “If I, if I can’t get rid of it, it’s going to be Damian’s aunt or uncle _and_ his niece or nephew.”

Damian’s head jerks up. “ _What_ are you talking about, Drake?”

Her gaze flicks to Bruce. “I, I let you down, I didn’t – it happened on the last mission, I said it just took longer than it should have but I didn’t know how to, how to tell anyone – “

Dick’s arms around her are holding her so tight she thinks it might leave bruises. “How to tell anyone what? Timmy? What do you need to tell us?”

“Ra’s,” she whispers. “Inseminated me. I was going to have it removed, but – “ That hysterical giggle bubbles up again. “I guess he found out?”

“Oh _god_.”

Bruce stares at her intently for a few seconds before just wrapping her into a second hug, overlaid on top of Dick’s. Damian’s disappeared by then, run out pretty much the moment she finished talking.

“Don’t worry,” someone is murmuring to her, over and over. “Don’t worry, we’re going to figure this out.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim has a chat with Ra's, and Jason is a better brother than he gives himself credit for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two gets the same general story warnings + a few new ones for self-inflicted injury, threatened suicide, and some discussion of death by self-induced abortion. This continues to not be a good story for Tim's bodily autonomy.

Bruce insists she be given as full an examination as possible under the circumstances, given that the Demon’s Head had her for several days, but all medical science can tell them is that Tim’s pregnant and reasonably healthy for someone who’s been on the sharp end of as many fights as she has. As Tim expected, the fetus is several weeks older than it should be, but as best Leslie can tell, its development isn’t still accelerated.

There’s more than enough equipment at the Manor for Tim to be moved there and still remain under Leslie’s care. The cave isn’t secure on its own against Ra’s, but Batman and Robin have enough friends and allies capable of fending off any assassins he might choose to send. Almost all of the Titans take a shift or two, even though Tim refuses to see them or give permission for them to be informed of what’s actually happening.

(The reminder that she has friends who want to protect her without explanation is – she can’t remember how she lived without that.)

Once Leslie’s convinced Tim’s recovered enough from the massacre at the clinic to try again, she prescribes mifepristone and misoprostol to induce a medical abortion. Tim throws up the first pill before it has enough time to do anything, so they wait until she hasn’t felt nauseous for a full day before trying again.

The second time, she hemorrhages so bad they have to break into the blood packs for a transfusion, but at the end of it, she’s still pregnant. It’s _possible_ that’s just coincidence – there’s a less than 10% chance of natural failure, but it’s not impossible – but Bruce insists on bringing Zatanna in to examine her for anything medical science _wouldn’t_ be able to identify. It turns out to be have been a good idea, because Zatanna finds _something_ mystical around the fetus, like an aura or a shield, that’s protecting it and responding viciously to attempts to remove it.

Tim sneaks out later that night, neatly dodging Cassie, who is on guard duty at the moment. From there, she just has to pick a direction and start walking. One of Ra’s ninja is following her within ten minutes. She finds somewhere relatively deserted before speaking directly to him. “Tell your Master we need to talk.”

“He hears you,” the assassin says before handing over his earpiece.

“ _My young detective_ ,” Ra’s voice purrs in her ear, and she suppresses a bone-deep shudder.

“Ra’s. How did you even – what the _fuck_ makes you think you have the right?”

“ _I can’t allow you to destroy our child, Timothea. I had hoped you would come to see my point of view, but I did take… precautions against your reluctance.”_

Her fingers curl into her palms, tightening into fists. “You can’t just impose this on me.”

_“Given time, I believe you will come to understand.”_

Giving her an earpiece leaves both of Tim’s hands free. That was a mistake. It takes her barely two minutes to incapacitate the ninja, find his weapons and put him in a chokehold until he passes out from lack of oxygen. Tim releases him, the body lying in a crumpled heap at her feet, before pressing the flat of the blade he carried against her own belly. “What if I choose not to? What if I just cut it out of me, here and now?”

There’s a pause. _“You wouldn’t survive it._ ”

“What if I _don’t care_?” She tilts the blade so that the sharp edge is just cutting into her skin, drawing a few beads of blood to the surface. “What if I’d rather kill myself than let you steal my body from me?”

She can almost imagine the way he must look, the dawning realization that he might have made a miscalculation in his grand manipulations, as he still tries to sound like he still has control over the situation. “I don’t believe you would.”

She puts more pressure on the knife’s handle and draws it back hard enough to slice open her skin. Lets him _hear_ her harsh gasp at the pain.

“Tell me how to fix this or lose us both,” she says.

“ _Timothea –_ “

“Tim, _no!_ ” Something tackles her from the side, a nerve strike to the wrist forcing her to drop the knife from her suddenly numb fingers. She aims an elbow at the closest body part she can reach, but it contacts body armor that’s too effective at redistributing the force.

 _“There is no way to untangle you until the child is born_ ,” Ra’s says over the earpiece. She thinks there may be a hint of regret in his voice, not that it fucking matters _now_.

The Red Hood dodges another punch she throws in his direction reflexively before stripping off his jacket and pressing it against her abdomen to stem the bleeding. “What the fuck, Babybird, what the _fuck_.”

“I’m pregnant,” Tim says – not really helping him but not trying to stop him, either. “You’re gonna be an uncle.” She pulls the earpiece out, crushes it, and throws it at the still-unconscious ninja. “Mazel tov.”

“Jesus _Christ_.” Suddenly _,_ Jason’s hold on her is a hell of a lot tighter than comfortable, but she doesn’t really care. “It’s Ra’s, isn’t it? The fuck did he _do_ to you?”

“Guess.”

“I’ll _kill_ him.” He squeezes even tighter for a second before letting go, grabbing her hand and pressing it over the bunched-up jacket on her stomach. “Hold this here. Keep putting pressure on it.” Then he hefts her up in his arms. “I’m taking you back to the manor.”

“I don’t really – I’d rather go to a safe house.”

“Yeah, well, three minutes ago you wanted to gut yourself in the middle of the street. I don’t really give a fuck what you want right now, Babybird.”

She doesn’t really have a reasonable-sounding argument for that, so she just shuts up and lets Jason deal with getting them home. He marches with her directly to the manor’s front door and pushes the doorbell about twenty times in the span of ten seconds. Surprisingly, Dick, not Alfred, is the first one to the door.

“Tim?! Oh, thank _god_. We’ve been looking all over for you – “

Jason snorts. “Not everywhere, Dick. I found Babybird playing hostage crisis with Ra’s al Ghul over her _situation_ – thanks for _telling_ me, by the way, you asshole – only no one ever taught her you’re supposed to use someone _else_ as the hostage.”

Dick freezes. “What?”

“Threatened to kill herself if he didn’t tell her how to get rid of it.”

Dick’s gaze snaps back onto her, horrified. “Tim, _no_.”

“So, you know, probably not good to let her go wandering out on her own. Might want to lock away the sharps box, too, if you know what I mean.”

“Jason, _shut up_ and stop making this sound worse than it is.” It’s impossible to get herself out of the hold Jason has on her right now without injuring either herself or him, neither of which would help her case much, so Tim just twists as best she can so she can look Dick in the eye. “It’s not that bad. I might have gotten… over-enthusiastic trying to convince him I was serious, but…”

“Yeah, a few stitches’ worth too enthusiastic.”

“God _damn_ it, Jason!” She slams a fist against his chest, impacting armor again, before turning her gaze on Dick. “Just. Please. Go get a medical kit. I’ll be fine. I just need a minute.”

“Tim…” Dick just looks so worried and pained that she feels a little bad for the way she purposefully manipulates him, widening her eyes a little before speaking so she looks more vulnerable.

“Please?”

“…Fine.” He steps forward and presses a kiss to her forehead. “But I’ll be right back, and we’re going talk about this.”

“Thanks,” she says, and waits until he’s out of range before hissing furiously at Jason, “ _Why_ are you trying to make this as difficult as possible? You’re going to have him thinking I need to be on suicide watch!”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Jason says. “I am.”

Tim barely resists the urge to punch him in the chest again out of frustration. “ _Why?!_ ”

He sets her down on the nearest seat but keeps his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place. “Because that wasn’t _nothing_. You think you’re the first person anything like this has happened to? _Yeah_ , there usually isn’t the head of an infamous league of assassins involved, but I’ve seen this play out before, Babybird. Girl’s pregnant, starts thinking she’s running out of options and doesn’t have anywhere to go, anyone else to turn to. Pretty soon someone finds her dead body cause she killed herself trying to make it go away or just plain killed herself. _That’s not going to happen here_. Understand?”

She feels like she can’t breathe. “Jason…”

 _“Understand?_ ”

“…Yes.”

He nods like that’s enough for now and pulls her into a side-armed hug so he doesn’t press up against her wound. “You’re not going to be alone in this. Okay? Fuck knows I’m a shitty brother, but you have Dick and Alfred and Bruce and whoever’s on the Titans these days. And we’re _all_ gonna be pissed if you try to take this shit on by yourself again.

“Now you can explain things to Dick or Alfred or whoever you feel like you can talk to, or I can tell them the part of the story _I_ know, but someone’s talking. Cause I’m not letting this slip through the cracks.”

Tim tilts her head against his shoulder just as Dick comes back into view with medical supplies in tow. His attention zeroes in on her immediately, looking at her like he was afraid she might have cracked into pieces while he was gone. “I’ll talk.”

“Good,” Jason says, letting out a breath like he’d expected a fight. “Good.”


End file.
